 BetterPhoto Member |
Photographing Action in Dark Auditorium My daughter competitively dances. It is an an auditorium that is dark, while the stage is brightly lit. We are not allowed to use a flash. I need to know how to control both the ISO speed (faster needed for action shots) but yet get in enough light without a flash.
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robert G. Fately |
Patricia, Ir your camera is a DSLR type and you can do this, set the meter to spot-metering mode. This means that the internal light meter will read only the light seen in the central small area of the viewfinder - the idea being to properly expose the stage and actors and not care about the outer areas falling into shadow. If you have a point-and-shoot type camera, then you are stuck. If you can change lenses then the next thing to do would be to set the ISO to the highest available (this means the chip will be most sensitive to light) - the 'penalty' you pay for this is noise (kind of like grain in film). The next thing to do would be to get as fast a lens as you can. This means a lens with a low f-number - which indicates it passes more light than a slower lens. When using said lens, use aperture preferred mode on the camera (again, if possible) - and set the lens wide open. Hopefully, with the spot metering and a fast lens and high ISO setting, the meter will select a shutter speed that will freeze motion rather than allow blurred action.
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Diane Dupuis |
I have a point-and-shoot type and have been able to shoot shows. You have to be able to manually control your shutter speed and aperture, though. Everything will depend on the lighting on stage, of course. If there is any way you can go to the real dress rehearsal to practice, that will really help... I use a monopod to keep things steady (no room for tripod in the audience). ISO 400 or 800, aperture 3.2 (or as low as you can go), shutter speed between 1/25 and 1/60. I shoot in aperture priority and adjust for each scene. I've shot several shows at my son's school now (both theater and fashion/dance).
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Patricia, You're in a quandary. For action shots, you need as fast a shutter speed as you can get. Which means you need a fast lens and ideally, with image stabilization. Definitely use a tripod or monopod. If you don't have one, then brace it against a railing or something. There's also a rule of thumb that relates shutter speed to focal length, when hand-holding. Basically, to avoid camera blur when hand-holding, the shutter speed should be at least one over the focal length. For example, if your focal length is 50mm, then you need shutter speed of 1/50 sec. If you zoom to 200mm, then you need 1/200 sec. But, the faster shutter speeds mean you need more light, and, hence, your quandary. I would try to dial in 1/60 sec and, hopefully, your camera can find an aperture that works. Otherwise, use the most wide-open aperture that you can. Then, bump your ISO as high as you can. Many cameras go to 1600 or 3200. The trade-off is grain. But, you can remove the grain with software tools like Photoshop Elements. Noise Ninja is excellent. Finally, even if your picture is underexposed, you can use editing software to enhance the lighting. Good luck!
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Michael McCullough |
Why not just try 1600 speed film,a little bit of grain but overall the images should be fine I recommend Fuji.
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BetterPhoto Member |
I have to agree with Michael on this one. Fuji is a film with excellent color saturation, and I used a roll of 800 ISO bumped to 3200ISO to shoot a predatory bird display at a local theme park. The prints came out somewhat grainy, but are very useable.
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- Ken Smith Contact Ken Smith Ken Smith's Gallery |
Mark and Michael, assuming the digital camera goes to ISO 1600, wouldn't it be better to shoot digital? At least you can use software to remove the noise and make other edits. But, I know film has many advantages.
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Nancy Grace Chen |
All good advice. I'm going to assume you have digital since that's the only advice I can give. I've shot a couple of recitals (example), and here's what I do: Set ISO to 800 or 1600 if necessary For some reason, stage lights cause burnout really easily. Every time I've done stage photography, putting the exposure comp on -1 has done the trick. Good luck!
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Denyse Clark |
Nancy- I love your example shots!! My boyfriend's daughter is in a school play tonight and I haven't done a lot of work in a dark auditorium w/ bright stage, so I've been searching threads for info. I'm going to try your suggestions, except as someone mentioned above, no room for a tripod so I'm bringing my monopod. I wouldn't have thought to underexpose, thanks for the tip!
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